# [Guide] How to build a Tupperdor



## euro (Aug 2, 2015)

I'm a new cigar smoker after smoking a couple cigars I wanted to buy a humidor. As soon when I hit the internet and doing some research I quickly found out that I'll fill a humidor up before I know it so I need something bigger. Because I don't want to spend a lot of money on a humidor I decided to make a tupperdor. During the process I decided to keep a journal of everything that went wrong and made a lot of photos of the work in progress so it might help out anyone else who wants to build one. At the end I decided to write a mini guide as I already had the photos etc. So let me begin.

What do you need?
- *Tupperwarebox:* I bought the biggest one I could fine which was a 70 liters one, it has to be PBA-free! Price: 11 EUR
- *Distilled water:* can be found at any hardware/drugs store, I bought two two liter bottles for 0.80 EUR
- *Distilled vinegar:* you can use this to get rid of the plastic smell, I used baking soda but at the drugstore I found a 1 liter bottle and I bought it. Price: 0.50 EUR
- *Baking soda:* I used this to get rid of the nasty plastic smell. Price: 0.85 EUR for a 10 pack.
- *Weatherstrips:* buy this ONLY if your tupperware container isn't airtight! I bought it at a hardware store for 3.50 EUR

- *Digital hygrometer: *can be purchased at any cigar store. I payed 16 EUR for mine.
- *Humidification source:* my original plan was to use polymer beads, according to the manufacturer they hold up moist at the RH of 70%, but in reality the RH went over 87%. So I decided to use kitty litter (KL), I had a couple bags laying around so I gave them a try and it works perfectly. I buy them in bulk for my cat so I pay 3 EUR for a 5L bag.

If you use Boveda's you simply can skip part three in this guide, all you need to do is place the Boveda's in your tupperdor and close the lid.

- *A small plastic container:* this is where you place the KL in.

*Step 1: Getting rid of the plastic smell!

*I went to a store and purchased the biggest plastic container I could get. Before I bought it I searched on the internet if they are PBA free and in this case it was. The downside was it wasn't airtight so I had to use weatherstrips to make it airtight. When I got home I noticed that the container had a plastic smell to it. I used baking soda to get rid of the smell.







*The 70 liter container

*​I poured some distilled water in a bowl and two packs of baking soda. You need to stir it up with a brush until it becomes a paste like in the photo below:






_*The baking soda with distilled water solution.

*_​Now I used the brush to "paint" the inside of the container. Don't forget to "paint" the lid also. Once I was done placed the lid on the container and closed it, I let it sit for 24 hours.














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The next day when I opened the lid I noticed that the smell was gone. Now I had to get rid of the baking soda thats inside the container. For this process you can use normal water. I took it to the shower and cleaned it. After I cleaned it I decided to rinse it with distilled water. And then I took a dry soft cloth and got rid of all the moist. I let it sit for a while in my room so it would completely dry out. The smell was totally gone. Now it's time for the next step.

*Step 2: Making the container airtight!

*If you have bought an airtight container you can skip this step. It's important to keep the moisture inside the container so you get a stable RH. If your container isn't airtight you need to make sure it is. I'm going to show you how to do so. We need to use weatherstrips and apply them on the edge of the container that keeps the lid on. You can get these strips in any hardware store. I went and bought a 4-6MM strip, it was the biggest size available. So far I really cant predict the outcome of other sizes, I think they should work too as long the lid stays firm and tight on the container.














*These are double strips, I just split them in half.

*​Now here comes the fun part. You need to apply the strip on the edge of the container. Don't apply it on the lid! You need to take your time for this step, it's easier than it looks. Don't apply too much pressure on the strips because if it isn't aligned properly it will be harder to adjust.






















_*This is how I applied the strips on the edge of the container.*_​
When your're done place the lid on top and see how it fits, place your hand on the center of the lid and push downwards a couple times. If you did this properly you shouldn't hear anything. If you didn't do this properly (which I doubt) you will hear the air escaping. Remove the lid and apply pressure on the strips so you know sure that they will stick.







_*My airtight tupperware container with the lid on.

*_​
*As the forum does only allow 10 photo attachments per post I will make an another post including the final steps.*


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## euro (Aug 2, 2015)

*Step 3: Humidification source*

So now we got rid of the plastic smell and we made the container airtight. Now we need to add a humidification source in our container so we can use it. At this stage I made a couple mistakes, I'm going to show you the mistakes I made so you won't make them. This is the mistake I made. My plan was to use acrylic polymer beads as a humidification source I found a website that sells them and according to them they can hold and release the moist at the RH of 70%. They will increase they will increase and hold 300 times their size.























I placed the crystals in a bowl and poured some distilled water in it. In the third photo you can see how they increased their size within one hour. I placed them in the humidification containers and thought I was done. I had a lot of problems with these crystals which drove me crazy. The RH passed 85 percent, at some point it was 95 percent. It really didn't matter how much crystals I used. So there has to be a better solution right? Yes there is, its KL. Kitty litter, I had a couple bags laying around and decided to give this a try. NOTE: You need to use SILICA KITTY LITTER (NON FRAGRANCE), regular wont work!

I had a plastic candy container which I planned to use but it still had a candy smell inside it. I had to get rid of the candy smell. This time I decided to use the distilled vinegar I purchased. I poured some distilled vinegar inside the container along with distilled water. I gave it a couple shake's and let it sit down for 24 hours.







_*My small container which I used for the KL, it's holding distilled vinegar and distilled water.

*_













_*This is the KL I'm using.

*_​I have seen many topics on this board where people ask about the brand of the KL. The brand isn't important, any silica kitty litter will work. The only thing you need to keep in mind is you need to use the non fragrance KL. Every petshop carries them. Just offtopic: If you have a cat I really can recommend silica kitty litter over any other litter product. You will save a lot of money and it takes three/four weeks before you need to re-change the KL in the litter box. It also deals great with the odor.

I cut a window in the small plastic container and added a couple sprays of distilled water, I placed it in the container along with the hygrometer and the RH went straight up to 68% at the beginning. After a while I placed a couple cigars inside the tupperdor and I noticed that the RH decreased to 64 percent, which is fine with me. Here are a couple pics of my tupperdor:
















It's not necessary to use KL you can use Boveda packs if you prefer them. If you use Boveda's all you have to do is toss them into your tupperdor and close the lid! You can see I tossed one small (8g) Boveda pack into the tupperdor, I got this one when I purchased a couple cigars and was curious if it would do anything at all.

The only reason why I went for KL is because I had already a couple bags of them laying around. I'm planning to upgrade to boveda's one day because in my opinion my tupperdor looks like a pimped kitty litter box (I hope my cat doesn't find out lol). So that's it guys, feel free to copy or repost the guide anywhere else as long it helps out someone.


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## hawk45 (Aug 9, 2015)

Wow! That's a whole lot of info. Good work brother.. You have that OCD thing for sure.

Short option, to not scare newbies off.. get a good sealing four clip top container with a gasket. (search for air-tight)
Put cigars in with humidity control device (l like Boveda 65 large pack).
Done

Smoke after 2 weeks or longer depending on where they came from.

While detail is good.. don't get so wrapped up in it. Just say'n


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## Jade Falcon (Jul 16, 2015)

This post gets the Heavy Weapons Guy "Seal Of Approval"!










Well done!

I have 13 cigars inside a Sistema 7-liter bin that I'm thinking about dropping for another bin. Lately, with the Boveda 65% pack in there, I'm getting RH fluctuations from 62% to 67%. Right now, it's stable at 65%, which is where I want it. But the past two weeks, it's been sitting solidly at 64%; which I'm not too concerned about at all. But it's the fluctuations that make me think that perhaps I've got a leak somewhere, and maybe I need a new bin. I hope not, so I'll keep an eye on it.


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

Great DIY article. I wonder if you considered lining the bottom with Spanish cedar?


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## euro (Aug 2, 2015)

*How to use the Kitty Litter:*

As stated before the only reason I used KL was because I already had it. A lot of people ask questions on the forum about the usage of KL in your 'dor. This is how I do it, some people might to it differently but this is what works for me. I placed the container with the KL in my tupperdor and closed the lid. I let it sit down for a couple hours and checked the RH, it really didn't do anything. I decided to spray the KL three times with distilled water, placed the container back in the tupperdor and what happened is the RH increased to 64%.

I waited for a couple hours and sprayed it 3 times again and finally the RH was on set 66%. When I open up the lid the RH does decrease, this is normal but when I put the lid on the RH increases again to 66%. At some point the RH in your tupperdor will decrease, this means you need to spray your KL again. Be gentle don't go crazy. If the RH was 66% and later 62% just spray it 3 times and see how it changes.

It's very stable however having KL in your 'dor doesn't look attractive in my opinion. If you could get Boveda packs I would go for them. Some people say that KL is cheaper, yes might be cheaper compared to Boveda's but you can recharge Bovedas.

Pros:
- *Cheap:* it's really cheap, shouldn't cost too much compared to other humidification sources.
- *Availability: *you can get silica KL almost at every petshop, their popularity seems to increase compared to regular KL. Keep in mind that EVERY silica KL works, make sure you buy the non fragrance ones.
*- Stability:* once it reaches it's RH it will be very stable. Last week I decided to add a couple sprays to the KL and it went straight up to 66%. It's on 66% for almost a week now. I have opened the tupperdor a couple times and when I closed the lid the RH went straight to 66%. It has been raining almost for days, this morning when I opened and closed my tupperdor the RH increased to 68%. After a while the RH was on 66.

Cons:
- *Training:* you need to add only to spray it a couple times, this can be confusing and required patience. You don't know how many times you need to spray it, it takes practice in order to control the RH. Some people like RH between 60-65 while others like it between 65-70. I have played a little bit with it and the highest RH I could get it on was 70.
- *Space:* depending on the amount of the KL you are using, they can take some space in your 'dor.
*- The looks:* I really don't like the look of my tupperdor which contains the KL. I'm a cat owner and whenever I open my tupperdor it reminds me of the cat litter box of my cat (containing the poops :vs_laugh.

*How to build a tupperdor (the quick and easiest way):*

I wrote this guide a little bit to fast and forgot to mention a couple things, thanks the forum members who posted above I decided to add this to the guide. It is possible to build a tupperdor within 24 hours (or less). This is only if you use an airtight tupperware container, if you can get one you really should buy it. In my case I couldn't find a large airtight container, the only one that where available aren't airtight so that's why I had to buy the weatherstrips and seal it. If you can get your hand on an airtight container you can skip Step Two, because it is already airtight. The only measure you need to take is to get rid of the plastic smell which is step one.

As for the humidification source, if you want to go the easy way just use Boveda packs. They are just toss 'n watch. Just toss them into your tupperdor and the RH will reach the RH of the Boveda you're using. Now I don't have experience with them but according to manufacturer you can't go wrong with them, you can't get a higher RH as listed on the pack itself because they work in two ways. They absorb and release moisture.


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## euro (Aug 2, 2015)

NormH3 said:


> Great DIY article. I wonder if you considered lining the bottom with Spanish cedar?


At some point I will, but now I don't have enough cedar. I did toss some cedar in the tupperdor and the smell changed. Now my tupperdor smells like a barnyard/petting zoo. It's funny because a local Casa Del Habano have a walk in humidor, and it really smells like rabbit piss. It's think it's pretty funny lol


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Rubbermaid and large Boveda packs are ordered. Nice thread. 


What shall we have? An '82 Margaux! Is it any good? Good....?, It will make you believe in God!


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